Morning all. It is night dark outside with the onset of rain and I think our brief warm snap is over. As the ragweed has begun flourishing in our brief warm snap, I’m all for the cold. The rain dark at 8 am I could live without. It makes me think I should still be in bed. So I definitely need a mental wake up this morning. On to the writing prompt then? Good. Let’s begin.
Well, my brain’s a little less fuzzy but I can’t help but think I picked this story up further than the beginning. It doesn’t feel like the start of a story but one already in progress. Perhaps at some point I’ll go in and figure out what the beginning is, but for now, this is what I got.
Wednesday, October 28th: He was never much of a sailor.
He was never much of a sailor. It came as a surprise given the rest of his family. They took to the sea as though it was their natural element. Their first steps had the rolling gate that took most others years aboard a ship to acquire. When he was first taken aboard a ship for his first short sail, he embarrassed them mightily by becoming violently ill. Once they returned to land a doctor was summoned. Every one of them believed he caught some sort of illness that needed to be cured.
The thought that the fault could be the sea never occurred to them. When the doctor pronounced him healthy and announced he was only suffering from a short bout of sea sickness, he was marched out of the house and derided as a charlatan. He spent the next few weeks being dosed with home remedies, each one more foul than the last. When he was again brought to the ship, he was again violently ill. Truthfully though he wasn’t certain if it was the sea that time or merely an accumulation of all of the home remedies mixing toxic-ly in his belly.
It spewed forth in a multicolored spray that astounded all who saw it. One of the other sailors said he recognized it. Under the united familial glare he didn’t mention sea sickness but declared that it was a reaction to the remedies they tried, the bug reacting to it. He claimed it was just timing, but that once all the remedies were hot of his system he had a cure that would work. He warned the family that it would only keep the illness at bay and need to be taken periodically. Suspicious but willing to try he was allowed a few days to let his belly settle before being sent to Abe the sailor. Abe explained to him that it was sea sickness and explained how chewing candied ginger could help calm his belly. He left with a sense of relief and a bag of his remedy.
This ‘cure’ worked and although he felt a bit queasy, he was able to sail without being sick. It pleased everyone, and his training duly began. He tried. It didn’t often look like it but he tried. He could identify every knot used on the ship and explain how it was made in ways others had no trouble following, but as soon as the rope was in his hands it twisted into a Gordian knot of magnificent proportions. He knew how to work the tiller but once his had was on it, the boat somehow never moved in his direction.
He caused more trouble than the worst of the miscreants and finally in defense of the ship if nothing else, he was allowed to keep the books, recording the cargo, the prices and all of the little details no one had any time to bother with. He found quickly he had a knack for figures and for orderly accounts. He had a way of finding the best buyer and of requesting cargo that would sell for the best price and bring the most value. He was still allowed on the ship, but never allowed to touch anything ship related until they reached port. Then he was sent to market to find the merchandise and haggle for the best price.
Once secured he would back away and the others would haul the cargo to the ship and make certain everything was well. They trusted him to purchase, they didn’t trust him with securing the knots. Under this system, the family thrived. Their wealth grew as did their prestige. They became known by those who purchased items for the great houses as the ones who could be trusted to provide both good quality items needed as well as to have a few extra delights on hand. It wasn’t long before others came from those great houses to make requests.
And that was where things took a strange and unexpected turn.
Ten til Midnight 